I asked my nutritionist if I could add some flavoring extracts to my food. I was told that since it has alcohol content I can't use them? Does anybody happen to know an extract brand that doesn't have an alcohol?

I thought I would share this here as well as in the Daily post for future uses. I found it on an Ideal Protein page on Facebook, very good tips....Enjoy

Ideal Weight Loss, LLC
HINTS & TIPS FOR DRINKS & PUDDINGS: What if you choose a drink mix or a pudding and decide you don't like the taste? Try these hints and you might be surprised to find that you fall in love with the taste again!

Before starting, though... I highly recommend that everyone on the Ideal Protein invest in a Blender. Both the shakes and the puddings benefit mixing in a blender...especially when adding ice and making Frappucinos... but also for a smooth, even distribution of the powder/protein.

Many of these hints have been scattered throughout other posts, but its always a helpful reminder to refresh and inspire.

1. Flavor Extracts: Add 1 tsp of extract such as peppermint, almond, rum, vanilla, or a variety of the Torani/ Da Vinci Sugar-Free syrups. Sometimes a splash of flavor can transform something just ok into something you crave.

For example, I didnt like the Strawberry Pudding taste, so I added 1/2 tsp (1 capful) of Arrack extract + 1/2 package sweetener + ice to make it into a delicious marsipan candy flavored milkshake.

Other dieters say that the huge variety of Sugar-Free syrups are life-savers... the black cherry, coconut, hazelnut, pumpkin and Kalua seem to be big winners. (Note that most are carb-free, but a couple have a few carbs in them (Peanut Butter for example.) So read the labels and use in moderation. The tiny amount used for drinks wont affect you, but if you pour on pancakes, you need to check.)

Also note that some coaches discourage using extracts because of the alcohol content used. Since you only use 1/2 tsp (1 capful), I didnt find any negative effects and continue to use extracts for one of my meals per day. However, feel free to use the SweetLeaf drops or sugarfree/carbfree/fatfree syrups instead if you are worried.

2. Sweetener (Splenda/ Truvia/ etc): For the puddings, I often make them into shakes (using up to 2 cups of ice cold water + ice) but find that I need to add the sweetener (allowance from morning coffee) to help perk up the flavor. This was especially important at the beginning of the diet when I was weaning myself off mega-carbs and sugar. The extra water also helps to balance the flavors as well as increasing your portion. I use a blender.

3. Mix & Match: When making the fruit flavored shakes alone in a blender, they foam like crazy. (I like this for evening so I feel fuller). But if you arent crazy about the foam, but still want a smoothie texture, in a sealable container, mix 1 packet of the fruit flavor (Orange/ Pineapple Banana/ Peach Mango) and 1 packet of vanilla pudding. Pour half into the blender and add water, saving the rest for another meal. The vanilla pudding makes it thicker and gives a subtle body to the fruit flavors so the stark orange tranforms into a Creamy Dreamsicle.

4. Spices: Cinnamon is fantastic for your body and also turns a plain drink into something special. Apple Pie or Pumpkin Pie spice gives almost any drink a warm Autumn flavor (The Butterscotch Pudding is one of my favourite versatile mixes that goes well with many things). Cardamom (crushed) gives a sweet, nutty exotic flavor. Chili...especially good Indian Chili Powder...gives a great kick... especially to cinnamon chili chocolate shake.

5. Replace your water with herbal tea or coffee. I love using Celestial Seasonings' BENGAL SPICE (cinnamon, cardemom) in place of water for amazing Frappaccinos. The other day I used an herbal Lemon & Ginger Tea with Vanilla IP Pudding and 1 TB of poppy seeds + 1 packet of sweetener for a beautifully subtle lemon poppy seed Frappacino (I think the lemon pudding would have been too strong.)

6. Try it Hot: The chocolate drink warms up gorgeously for a rich cocoa. Friends say that adding hot coffee to the cappucino drink is also lovely. (Or making the vanilla pudding with cold water, then adding it to hot coffee for a dreamy, creamy vanilla Latte.)

7. Straws: If you still have a hard time with the tastes, straws help.

8. Or if you just hate something, there are usually many other alternatives. The raspberry Jelly tastes like real Jell-o (and is great for your skin and nails.) You can mix the raspberry jelly with the puddings (for 2 separate servings) if you dont like the puddings by themselves.

9. Herbs: Surprisingly, adding handfuls of fresh basil to the lemon pudding or fresh mint to the chocolate or vanilla puddings (along with 1/2 -1 packet sweetener) give them an entirely different taste.

10. Portions: I will almost always increase the amount of water from 8 oz to 16 oz (about 2 cups) when making drinks (or often making drinks out of puddings). You dont lose the flavor and you get so much more to enjoy without guilt. The vanilla pudding is especially successful making a pudding into a drink because it is a bit thicker. A mentioned earlier, the butterscotch pudding is also a favourite because of how many different things I can do with it.

The Ideal Protein diet actually has an enormous range of delicious possibilities... it just might take a little time to find your groove.
This diet really DOES work...and FAST... and there are many choices of foods to eat (There are already over 70 recipes on just this page!) so it is well worth digging a little for ideas on how to make it work for you and finding flavours you love.

I like nice creamy soups on a cold day so I have taken to cooking my vegetables and then putting them through the Magic Bullet with some water. After mixing up the soup I mix in the pureed veggies and heat. So good and hearty and easy way to pack for lunch at work.

Preheat the oven to 400F. Toss all ingredients together. Spread vegetables on a roasting pan and cook 20 minutes or until the onions are tender when pierced with a fork.

I copied this from SweetSheila's post (on page 4 of this thread) this recipe is awesome and it maked enough for 3 meals so I was able to freeze the extra 2 in preparation for one of those "to busy to cook" nights

I had the crispy cereal for breakfast, and ew. I'm not a fan. Tomorrow I plan on trying the omelet because there are ways to make them tasty. Has anyone else found the cereal to be nauseating? What are the best IP breakfasts?
Just copied this from another post...looks good

"NON-RESTRICTED" PANCAKES:
Sit down to a hot, sweet, short stack of thick American Pancakes....and still be able to choose a restricted IP food later in the day!

Ideal Protein has 2 pancake packages (Choc chip & Orange), but both are considered restricted products. Meaning that if you have it, you cant have one of the bars or chili or oatmeal as well in the same day.

One clever way to "have your cake and eat it too" is to make pancakes from another non-restricted IP product... The Crispy Cereal!

Pour dry mix in to egg white mixture and combine.
Cook in pan as you would pancakes. (Non-stick pan or spray with PAM or other cooking spray)

I spray the pancakes with a squirt of the zero calorie/ zero carb / zero fat "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" (Ordered from ebay since they dont have it in my country) for that hot buttered taste of real pancakes.

Makes 3 - 4 small, but thick American-style pancakes. Sweet enough to eat without any other topping, but if you have the Ideal Protein Maple Syrup, use that.

I thought I would share this here as well as in the Daily post for future uses. I found it on an Ideal Protein page on Facebook, very good tips....Enjoy

Ideal Weight Loss, LLC
HINTS & TIPS FOR DRINKS & PUDDINGS: What if you choose a drink mix or a pudding and decide you don't like the taste? Try these hints and you might be surprised to find that you fall in love with the taste again!

Before starting, though... I highly recommend that everyone on the Ideal Protein invest in a Blender. Both the shakes and the puddings benefit mixing in a blender...especially when adding ice and making Frappucinos... but also for a smooth, even distribution of the powder/protein.

Many of these hints have been scattered throughout other posts, but its always a helpful reminder to refresh and inspire.

1. Flavor Extracts: Add 1 tsp of extract such as peppermint, almond, rum, vanilla, or a variety of the Torani/ Da Vinci Sugar-Free syrups. Sometimes a splash of flavor can transform something just ok into something you crave.

For example, I didnt like the Strawberry Pudding taste, so I added 1/2 tsp (1 capful) of Arrack extract + 1/2 package sweetener + ice to make it into a delicious marsipan candy flavored milkshake.

Other dieters say that the huge variety of Sugar-Free syrups are life-savers... the black cherry, coconut, hazelnut, pumpkin and Kalua seem to be big winners. (Note that most are carb-free, but a couple have a few carbs in them (Peanut Butter for example.) So read the labels and use in moderation. The tiny amount used for drinks wont affect you, but if you pour on pancakes, you need to check.)

Also note that some coaches discourage using extracts because of the alcohol content used. Since you only use 1/2 tsp (1 capful), I didnt find any negative effects and continue to use extracts for one of my meals per day. However, feel free to use the SweetLeaf drops or sugarfree/carbfree/fatfree syrups instead if you are worried.

2. Sweetener (Splenda/ Truvia/ etc): For the puddings, I often make them into shakes (using up to 2 cups of ice cold water + ice) but find that I need to add the sweetener (allowance from morning coffee) to help perk up the flavor. This was especially important at the beginning of the diet when I was weaning myself off mega-carbs and sugar. The extra water also helps to balance the flavors as well as increasing your portion. I use a blender.

3. Mix & Match: When making the fruit flavored shakes alone in a blender, they foam like crazy. (I like this for evening so I feel fuller). But if you arent crazy about the foam, but still want a smoothie texture, in a sealable container, mix 1 packet of the fruit flavor (Orange/ Pineapple Banana/ Peach Mango) and 1 packet of vanilla pudding. Pour half into the blender and add water, saving the rest for another meal. The vanilla pudding makes it thicker and gives a subtle body to the fruit flavors so the stark orange tranforms into a Creamy Dreamsicle.

4. Spices: Cinnamon is fantastic for your body and also turns a plain drink into something special. Apple Pie or Pumpkin Pie spice gives almost any drink a warm Autumn flavor (The Butterscotch Pudding is one of my favourite versatile mixes that goes well with many things). Cardamom (crushed) gives a sweet, nutty exotic flavor. Chili...especially good Indian Chili Powder...gives a great kick... especially to cinnamon chili chocolate shake.

5. Replace your water with herbal tea or coffee. I love using Celestial Seasonings' BENGAL SPICE (cinnamon, cardemom) in place of water for amazing Frappaccinos. The other day I used an herbal Lemon & Ginger Tea with Vanilla IP Pudding and 1 TB of poppy seeds + 1 packet of sweetener for a beautifully subtle lemon poppy seed Frappacino (I think the lemon pudding would have been too strong.)

6. Try it Hot: The chocolate drink warms up gorgeously for a rich cocoa. Friends say that adding hot coffee to the cappucino drink is also lovely. (Or making the vanilla pudding with cold water, then adding it to hot coffee for a dreamy, creamy vanilla Latte.)

7. Straws: If you still have a hard time with the tastes, straws help.

8. Or if you just hate something, there are usually many other alternatives. The raspberry Jelly tastes like real Jell-o (and is great for your skin and nails.) You can mix the raspberry jelly with the puddings (for 2 separate servings) if you dont like the puddings by themselves.

9. Herbs: Surprisingly, adding handfuls of fresh basil to the lemon pudding or fresh mint to the chocolate or vanilla puddings (along with 1/2 -1 packet sweetener) give them an entirely different taste.

10. Portions: I will almost always increase the amount of water from 8 oz to 16 oz (about 2 cups) when making drinks (or often making drinks out of puddings). You dont lose the flavor and you get so much more to enjoy without guilt. The vanilla pudding is especially successful making a pudding into a drink because it is a bit thicker. A mentioned earlier, the butterscotch pudding is also a favourite because of how many different things I can do with it.

The Ideal Protein diet actually has an enormous range of delicious possibilities... it just might take a little time to find your groove.
This diet really DOES work...and FAST... and there are many choices of foods to eat (There are already over 70 recipes on just this page!) so it is well worth digging a little for ideas on how to make it work for you and finding flavours you love.

Thank you for posting this for us newbies! I especially like the sound of #3 and will be making it soon. I must tell you that you are an inspiration for me. I am close to the same weight as you were when you started and to see how much you have lost gives me so much hope. God Bless!

Breakfast cereal has always been a weakness for me. The crispy cereal is OK and fills the void some. Tonight I tried something that turned out to help. I loved Cocoa Krispies so I mixed 1 tsp cocoa powder (1/3 gm. net carb) with a packet of Truvia then added the cereal packet. Stir to mix the cocoa in, then added the water. Pretty close to my Cocoa Krispies!!